Monday, November 17, 2008

A few random bits

Cyclocross happened on Sunday at Farragut. Jon has a good summary over at the OTM blog. Stuart raced B's and came in 3rd.


Stuart rocking the old 720 something fierce






Jonathon and another racer on the run up


I put campus pedals on my blue RB-T. Campus pedals have SPD-compatible clip ins on one side and are normal platforms on the other side. I don't why they're called campus pedals. We had these pedals on Maddie's tandem (which now lives in Missoula). I decided to try them on a faster bike just to see what it felt like.




I took a loop around town tonight wearing my tennis shoes on my RB-T. I had a ball. It's nice, as a matter of convenience to ride normal shoes, but why is it so much fun to ride on platform pedals?

Did I feel that 12 year-old BMX thing a couple times?

I did notice my feet wanting to lift off the pedals on the up-stroke a bit as I grinded up hills.

I think I'll keep these pedals on for a while and see how things evolve. I may consider a set of these pedals for the Rawland too.

In case you missed the memo, it's Bike Nerd night: Tuesday Nov 18th. 6-8 PM at Salem Luthern Church.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm running fully platform now after borrowing the ones off my wife's bike for winter purposes on my Trek. So much less hassle than the previous pair of toe clips pedals I scrounged off another donor bike when my originals degraded. I think ultimately next spring I may get a couple sets of those MKS platforms that Rivendell sells since they're also toe clip compatible.

Anonymous said...

John,
Thanks for the cup of tea for the injured racer. I hope that you have been enjoying the cross races. Thank you also for your blog and all of your hard work on the BAB.

Mark K

Jonathan Hawkins said...

well, see, I'm pretty sure that other racer passing me is Shannon, Chris's wife,(yuk yuk) and the only thing I can add is I apologize for getting in the way.

The Editor said...

What happened to your "Blogs and sited I watch" section? That's how I link to all the stuff I read, now I'm gonna have to actually add them to my follow list, and that's alot of work for somebody as lazy as me.

John Speare said...

Mark: I've had a great time at the races. I can't wait until next year.

Derek: I think your browser is being weird -- as any good support person would say, "it works for me."
The dynamic lists from blogspot are still pretty new and still kind of spotty wonky, so hit F5 and see if the links come back.

Jonathan: Ah. Ok, good to have a name for a racer. I've got pics of Shannon (and you) for the last couple years of CX races.

Anonymous said...

Derek I was having the same problem with the browser at school today. It's working for me now, I was just on your blog and noticed something....is John wearing spandex?

John Speare said...

Anon/Derek? well, strictly speaking, they're wool. But practically speaking, from the observer's perspective, yes, they are essentially spandex. oh god...

Anonymous said...

anon=wade. Ok if it's wool. I was just giving you hard time, cuz I thought I remembered reading some on here about you and not wearing spandex, I might be mistaken.

John Speare said...

you're not mistaken. I really don't like wearing them. But for CX they make sense. I resisted at first, until my first attempt at a running re-mount, where my baggie-ass shorts caught the back of my saddle and I went ass-over-tea-kettle. From there on, I wear the tighties when I CX.
I've tried them for longer rides, but they just are not comfortable for me. And funky? Good lord there's some funk that goes on there in that hot and humid chamois. I'll stop there.

Anonymous said...

LMAO

gillsans said...

You're just now getting on the platform petal train? As someone who subscribes to so many of Grant Peterson's teachings, I'm surprised you still ride clipped in!

I bought a pair of clip/platform petals and shoes two years ago, but I couldn't get used to them. I just put my regular platforms back on last weekend. Then again most of my riding is through Browne's Addition and Downtown.